The present invention generally relates to analyzing a functionality of at least one manufacturing product (e.g., a semiconductor product, etc.). More particularly, the present invention relates to determining a cause of a deviation of the functionality of the manufacturing product.
A manufactured product includes, but is not limited to, a semiconductor product, semiconductor chip, a semiconductor wafer, a semiconductor wafer lot, a semiconductor device, an electronic device, a mechanical device, a medical device, etc. A semiconductor product includes at least one semiconductor device. In this present disclosure, a functionality of a semiconductor device refers to a characteristic of the semiconductor device. A characteristic of a semiconductor device includes, but is not limited to an amount of leakage current in the semiconductor device, a threshold voltage in the semiconductor device, a capacitance of the semiconductor device, an operating frequency of the semiconductor device, etc.
Many defects on a semiconductor product have unclear root causes. Some elements (e.g., a transistor in a semiconductor chip, etc.) of the semiconductor product are sensitive to minimal changes of manufacturing process conditions while the others (e.g., a semiconductor device substrate, etc.) are more robust. In the present disclosure, sensitivity refers to a frequency or tendency of deviation from a corresponding product specification.
However, with traditional techniques, it is not always possible to indicate a possible dependence of an error occurring during a particular semiconductor manufacturing step, e.g., the error occurs due to a defect on the particular semiconductor manufacturing step. Thus, it is desirable to find such dependence that can be interpreted as a possible cause-effect relation and to take a correctional action to ensure characteristic(s) of manufactured product(s) comply with a corresponding product specification.